The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) hosted a public meeting on Dec. 6 at Dover Middle School to receive feedback on proposed routes for a bypass of Dover on State Highway 7.

AHTD resident engineer David Tolleson said the meeting’s attendees were presented five options — three main routes, with two variations — which they voted on at the end of the meeting. Tolleson said he estimates the project will begin in fall of 2013 or possibly early 2014.

“Everything is very tentative at this point,” Tolleson said. “We’re still pretty early on in the game, but tentatively it’s scheduled to go to leading in fall of 2013 or maybe early 2014. It depends on a lot of activity.”

An additional option, expansion of the existing route through downtown Dover, was ruled out following the initial public meeting.

Dover Mayor Pat Johnson said he would rather not see the bypass happen. He was in favor of expanding the original route, but realized the complications involved.

“In my opinion, I can see how it could hurt our downtown, but it’s a Catch-22,” Johnson said. “I’d prefer for them to expand on the existing highway, but it’s hard to expand without losing downtown business. It would affect their parking and their availability. ... I don’t see how they could open it up without destroying some property. I wouldn’t want them to tear anything down, so I guess I’d rather have the bypass than that. We have a lot of history in downtown Dover — especially on the east side of the street.”

Tollleson agreed the widening of the existing Sate Highway 7 route would be an expensive alternative.

“It’s not a good feasible approach,” Tolleson said. “The cost would be outrageous for that. They’re all going to be expensive, but that one went by the wayside after our first meeting. ... A lot of times, you believe if you stay on the existing route and just widen it, it’s got to be cheaper,” Tolleson said. “In this case it was far from cheaper. Everything is developed there so the land is more expensive. You couldn’t just buy 10 feet off of the gas station there. They would lose their whole lot. It’s not just fuel stations, it’s everybody in there.”

Based on traffic study information he read, Johnson said the bypass didn’t seem necessary. He said the study indicated only 1/3 of the traffic through Dover continue on Highway 7, with the remainder traveling down State Highway 164 or State Highway 27.

“There are certain times of day when there’s an issue,” Johnson said. “School time is rough in both the morning and afternoon, but I don’t think it’s so severe we need a bypass.”

Tolleson said the traffic study confirmed a bypass would benefit the traffic flow.

Johnson said the bypass could result in Highway 7 travelers not even knowing the town existed.

“We would lose a lot,” Johnson said. “In the summertime when people are headed south, they’ve been through all of those curvy roads and they see our town and think, ‘We’ve made it back to civilization.’ So they stop at the market or the gas stations. With the bypass there, they may not even know anything is there, and no one has figures on that.”

The remaining route-options are identified as yellow, red and orange, with east and west variations for the red and orange routes. Both variations of the red route begin further north than the orange and yellow options, both of which would begin just south of Baker’s Creek bridge. Tolleson said the variations of the red and orange routes were created based on public input from the initial public meeting. He said the orange west variation would be the longest path and likely the most expensive, while the red east variation would be the shortest.

Tolleson said results of the voting would not be available until after the completion of an environmental impact study, which he estimates to be complete in about six months.

“I have no idea how it turned out, but I heard a lot of people saying, ‘Red. Red. Red.’ I don’t know how many people really voted for the red. I don’t have that information yet,” Tolleson said.

Tolleson said the public input will contribute heavily to the route chosen, but ultimately the decision is based upon the findings of the environmental impact study.

“We could wind up hitting an old graveyard or burial ground or endangered species or something,” he said. “If that’s found — If there’s an environmental impact, that weighs heavily on the choice. After that it would be based on public participation. Sometimes it seems like it doesn’t matter when everybody wants this one, but if we go through two cemeteries and a Native American burial ground, we’re probably not going to go that way.”

Tolleson does not anticipate another public meeting on the bypass to be scheduled.

“Sometimes they schedule a third one, but usually when they start narrowing down routes that’s usually the last one,” he said.